Всесвітній день анестезіолога / World Anesthesia Day

16 жовтня з нагоди Всесвітнього дня анестезіолога доцентом кафедри анестезіології та реаніматології, к.мед.н. Володимиром Петриничем організовано проведення круглого столу на тему «Історія розвитку анестезіології та здобутки кафедри анестезіології та реаніматології Буковинського державного медичного університету» зі студентами 5-го курсу медичного факультету № 3.  

Today, we’re recognizing World Anesthesia Day, a celebration of one of the most integral breakthroughs of medical history: the first successful use of ether anesthesia.

On October 16, 1846, William T.G. Morton (1819-1868; dentist, Boston, MA) performed the first public demonstration of surgical etherization at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. Morton administered sulfuric ether to Edward Gilbert Abbott (1825-1855) for an operation performed by Boston's leading surgeon John Collins Warren, MD (1778-1856; Hersey Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA). When Abbott awoke, he said that he did not feel the procedure, marking the first surgery without pain, an incredibly significant medical event.

Reports of surgical and dental operations performed when patients were rendered insensible by the inhalation of ether appeared in newspapers, medical journals, and personal correspondence from Boston's physicians. Ships carried news of etherization to Europe and the rest of the world.

The first attempts at general anesthesia were probably herbal remedies administered in prehistory. Alcohol is one of the oldest known sedatives and it was used in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. The Sumerians are said to have cultivated and harvested the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) in lower Mesopotamia as early as 3400 BCE.

The ancient Egyptians had some surgical instruments, as well as crude analgesics and sedatives, including possibly an extract prepared from the mandrake fruit. Bian Que (Chinese: Pien Ch'iao, c. 300 BCE) was a legendary Chinese internist and surgeon who reportedly used general anesthesia for surgical procedures.

The most famous anesthetic, ether, may have been synthesized as early as the 8th century, but it took many centuries for its anesthetic importance to be appreciated, even though the 16th century physician and polymath Paracelsus noted that chickens made to breathe it not only fell asleep but also felt no pain. By the early 19th century, ether was being used by humans, but only as a recreational drug.

American physician Crawford W. Long noticed that his friends felt no pain when they injured themselves while staggering around under the influence of diethyl ether. He immediately thought of its potential in surgery. Conveniently, a participant in one of those "ether frolics", a student named James Venable, had two small tumors he wanted excised. But fearing the pain of surgery, Venable kept putting the operation off. Hence, Long suggested that he have his operation while under the influence of ether. Venable agreed, and on 30 March 1842 he underwent a painless operation. However, Long did not announce his discovery until 1849.

Horace Wells conducted the first public demonstration of the inhalational anesthetic at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 1845. However, the nitrous oxide was improperly administered and the patient cried out in pain. On 16 October 1846, Boston dentist William Thomas Green Morton gave a successful demonstration using diethyl ether to medical students at the same venue. Morton, who was unaware of Long's previous work, was invited to the Massachusetts General Hospital to demonstrate his new technique for painless surgery. After Morton had induced anesthesia, surgeon John Collins Warren removed a tumor from the neck of Edward Gilbert Abbott. This occurred in the surgical amphitheater now called the Ether Dome. The previously skeptical Warren was impressed and stated, "Gentlemen, this is no humbug." In a letter to Morton shortly thereafter, physician and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. proposed naming the state produced "anesthesia", and the procedure an "anesthetic".

Morton at first attempted to hide the actual nature of his anesthetic substance, referring to it as Letheon. He received a US patent for his substance, but news of the successful anesthetic spread quickly by late 1846. Respected surgeons in Europe including Liston, Dieffenbach, Pirogov, and Syme quickly undertook numerous operations with ether. An American-born physician, Boott, encouraged London dentist James Robinson to perform a dental procedure on a Miss Lonsdale. This was the first case of an operator-anesthetist. On the same day, 19 December 1846, in Dumfries Royal Infirmary, Scotland, a Dr. Scott used ether for a surgical procedure. The first use of anesthesia in the Southern Hemisphere took place in Launceston, Tasmania, that same year. Drawbacks with ether such as excessive vomiting and its explosive flammability led to its replacement in England with chloroform.

Інформацію підготував: к.мед.н., доцент Петринич Володимир